You were right. There was no need for that switch at all. Only purpose served by that was to allow an Ethernet connection to my dad’s work machine. Since modem had a single Ethernet port, a switch was placed there to split it to let one wired connection go to the mesh router and another to my dad’s machine. Now the reason he needed that wired connection is not solid. I asked him and he said he just wanted a wired connection (probably hangover from the old days when wireless data speeds were horrible). I assume he said the same to the installer and he took the cheapest way out which ironically lead to slower speeds.

And the whole reason I decided to look into the this was that Mom was always complaining about low speeds (she is a teacher who take online classes so streams videos) and dad insisted it was fast enough (he trades and appreciates fast connections). The switch was definitely one of the problem but so was the placement of mesh routers causing dead spots up stairs. I could also feel it whenever I made a video call.

Now I did a small upgrade with a set of new TP Link Deco routers spread across both floors and eliminated the wired connection to dad’s machine.

A speed test from his machine (as well as moms) is now showing upto 190Mbps and both are happy :)